Three Peaks Challenge

Staff at leading Newport based motor factor, Fast Parts Wales, have taken part in the Welsh Three Peaks Challenge, raising nearly £2000 for Tŷ Hafan, the family hospice for young lives.

The Fast Parts team, comprising Steve Jones, Alice Jones, David Irwin, Andrew Berty, Adam Haines, Marcus Williams & Lee Whitcombe, followed up last year’s sky diving fundraiser by taking part in the challenge, travelling to each destination in a Volkswagen T5, kindly donated for the day by Merthyr Self Storage.

The Welsh Three Peaks Challenge takes in the three peaks of Wales: Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) in the North, Cadair Idris in mid-Wales, and Pen y Fan in the South.

The aim of the challenge is to reach the summit of Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen-y-fan all within fifteen hours starting at 4am on Saturday morning. This is a total of over 20 miles and an ascent of 9397 feet.

Starting at Snowdonia at 4:30am, the team was denied the summit by some 80metres due to the very poor weather and visibility. The walk down Snowdonia followed the train track, which the team could hear but not see due to the mist.

The Cadair Idris climb and descent took a further six hours and the mountain really took its toll on the group.

The team arrived at the final leg of the journey – Pen Y Fan – just in time to start the last climb before the cut off time of 7:30pm and took only two hours fifteen minutes to get up and back to base.

All three mountains were climbed in a total of 11 hours between 4:30am and 21:15pm.

Nathan Travis, Fast Parts General Manager, said: “The team did brilliantly to overcome all that the Welsh weather and terrain could throw at them. They had only three hours sleep out of the 40 and walked a total of 21miles. They have done themselves, Fast Parts and Ty Hafan Children’s Hospice extremely proud.”

Tŷ Hafan is one of the UK’s leading paediatric palliative care charities and offers the only children’s hospice service in south Wales. It offers comfort, care and support to life-limited children, young people and their families so they can make the most of the time they have left together.